Tag: deliverance

“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall- Isaiah 25:4. Sometimes we cannot help the circumstance we may find ourselves in, but we can always be aware of God’s deliverance from any storm of any kind, because God is a refuge from our storms. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still- Psalms 107:29.” ~LMJ~

Once there was a man who hated Christians. He persecuted them at every opportunity; he put them into prison, and gave his vote to have them executed by stoning them to death. He carried written permission from the leaders of his day to go anywhere, into any home, and forcefully drag out men and women and take them to jail. From the depths of his heart he loved God, and walked faithfully and blameless before others who believed in his religion and he somehow did this with a clear conscience. Yet he was a very religious man who prayed and worshiped the same God we pray and worship. He believed in his heart that the Christian movement came from the pits of hell.

I have no doubt that I would not allow him into my home or around my friends because his very presence could mean death. He thought in his heart that he was a great believer and that he was doing the right things before his God as he personally anticipated the coming of the Redeemer.

This man lived in the first century as a Pharisee, he had the best schooling that money could buy. He also had the right credentials as he sat under the greatest, first century teacher of the Old Testament Scriptures, named Gamaliel (Acts 5:34, Acts 22:3), and he was one of Gamaliel’s favorite pupils. This man was Saul, also known in the Scriptures as Paul (the difference in the two names is that Saul comes from the Hebrew spelling, while Paul is from the Greek).

Acts 22:4 – And I {Paul} persecuted this way {this way represented the followers of Jesus Christ who was, is, and shall always be “the way, the truth, and the life” John 14:6} unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

I Timothy 1:12-13:
-12: And I {Paul} thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
-13: Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious {an insulter}: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

Ignorantly in unbelief means that Paul did not have the right information to believe correctly, even with all his religious training in the Scriptures which foretell and announce the coming of Christ, the promised Messiah. Paul completely missed the truths in the Scriptures that reveal Jesus Christ to be the promised Redeemer and the Savior of humanity.

One day when Paul was on the road to Damascus he, for the first time in his life met Jesus Christ, and as we know from the Scriptures, Paul had an immediate change of mind and heart, because he for the first time in his life saw the true spiritual realities of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to Paul in Acts 9:5 “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest!” Can you imagine?

Personally — if I were Paul — this meeting would have given me a heart attack! Yet, Paul recognized the error of his ways, changed his mind, and he became one of the greatest believers this world has ever known, he received perhaps more revelation and inspiration than any man or woman has received in all of history.

The great Apostle Paul from that day forward dedicated his life to teaching and showing others the depths of God’s grace, love, and forgiveness. Paul helped believers receive an understanding of the healing Word by preaching Jesus Christ, who in turn reveals the righteousness of God to our inner hearts, as His Word continues blessing our lives with spiritual truth.

Philippians 3:8-9:
-8: Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered {or allowed} the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ {there is nothing as precious as learning about Christ},
-9: And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Discovering our Lord and Savior in the Word of God is a rewarding adventure in this life as Jesus said, the Scriptures testify of me (John 5:39). It is Jesus who opens up our understanding to the Word of God, so with him the words in the Word begin making perfect sense. Luke wrote: ”Then opened he {Jesus} their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

II Peter 1:2:
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.

Grace and peace is something we may expect to receive simply by going to our Bibles and looking for the knowledge of Christ, who is according to I Corinthians 1:24, ”the power, and wisdom of God.”

Grace and peace being multiplied in the Apostle Paul’s heart is what changed his life around and presented to him great deliverance, and this will also bless us with the inner comfort of having grace and peace in our hearts through discovering the wondrous knowledge of Christ.

Learning God’s Word in byte-sized portions is the absolute best way to gain an understanding of the Scriptures, especially the sections within the Bible that are written to the believer of today. The Church Epistles are directly addressed to believers who live and grow daily in the grace of God’s divine Word. In I Thessalonians we have a series of Bible bytes that give to the believer tremendous understanding and spiritual light.

I Thessalonians 5:16 – Rejoice evermore.

This is the entire verse of Scripture: “Rejoice evermore.” So when are we to rejoice? Evermore. This means always, during good times as well as hard times. To rejoice is to have joy over and again, and the result of rejoicing is laughter, like Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Her laughter was the result of beginning to believe in a promise of God and the joy within her heart overflowed into laughter. As we learn God’s healing Word, rejoicing becomes a second nature response from simply knowing that God is so very well pleased with us. Some negatives may come our way today yet we are able to rejoice evermore because we know the result, we know that we are more than conquerors because we believe God, His Word, and we believe His promises of deliverance to us.

I Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.

Again this is a Bible byte, yet it contains a world of truth with instruction, guidance, and encouragement. To “pray without ceasing” means never to give up on our prayers though at times it may appear that some of our prayers go unanswered. Still, when God’s Word promises us something and we pray with believing for it, it will absolutely come to us. I have one prayer that I have been faithful to for more than seventeen years, and I believe in my heart that the answer is still coming. Almost all of our prayers are answered right away, or in the due process of time as our need truly arises, and sometimes they do take time before we receive our answers; however, if we pray with believing and we do not give up, we will reap.

When we put our trust in the hands of God and pray without ceasing, even if we do not immediately see the results that we want, it does not mean that God does not care. Rather, we can use this as a challenge to help build our thankfulness and faithfulness to the words of life. When I first became a Christian believer I had hundreds of questions, and over the years I have received hundreds of answers to my questions, yet I still have questions, perhaps even more than at the start. Yet God continues answering me through His Word, or by hearing a teaching, or I see it in a book, or God inspires me with inspirations and revelations as life seems to go on without too much trouble.

This is the same with prayer, we can believe that God’s timetable is always perfect, and when we do receive the answers to our prayers they are usually greater than we could even imagine because God always goes beyond what we can ask or even think.

I Thessalonians 5:18 – In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Being thankful for everything that God gives to us is a result of our prayer life, this is the context that the giving of thanks is set in, for this is living in the will of God. “Concerning you” means that God’s will is always directed toward you in Christ Jesus. God will is to be continuously answering our prayers as we continue to be thankfully “rejoicing evermore” along our life’s path.

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears– Psalms 34:4. One of the major fears that we can be completely delivered from is the fear that God is not real. The fear of life simply ending without God can be excruciating and even horrifying; however, God can and will deliver us from this fear, for we are among those who have sought the Lord, we are among those whom He has heard, and we are among those whom He has delivered from all our fears. Praise God!” ~LMJ~

There are 150 separate Books some refer to as chapters that we today call The Book of Psalms. Many refer to the Psalms as “The Psalms of David,” which is somewhat misleading, because David did not write all of the Psalms.

In the Psalms, we have seven named writers, and the books they wrote are listed below.

Four: For Solomon, with his name above two Psalms.
They are Psalm 72 and 127.

Five: Moses with his name above one Psalm.
Psalm 90.

Six: Hemon the Ezrahite with his name above one Psalm.
Psalm 88.

Seven: Ethon the Ezrahite with his name above one Psalm.
Psalm 89.

Totaling up the above seven names and their Books, we have one-hundred-one Psalms identified by the pen and hand of Prophets. The remaining other forty-nine Psalms are unnamed, such as Psalms 137, yet they are all God’s Word and are inspired by Him (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:21). King David had a large part in the forming of the Psalms, writing more than any other.

We thought it only fitting to enliven your interest in David by peeking into one of his Psalms, to view how he walked with God and had such a wonderful heightened level of understanding his Savior.

David not only walked with God, but he was also known as a man after God’s own heart and we today have his Psalms as an inspiration to help us aspire to also be a man or woman after God’s own heart.

Did you know that after Jesus who is the subject of the whole Word, David is the most written about person in the Bible as an archetype of Christ? Jesus would inherit not only David’s kingdom, but all the kingdoms of the world when he returns to reign over all the earth. Jesus is called the son of David fourteen times in the Gospels.

The following is the entire thirty-second Psalm ― A Psalm of David:

Psalms 32:1:
BLESSED is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

In this Psalm we notice the first word BLESSED; this word means to have happiness in our life’s journey as God blesses our ways because we have not only found the Promised Seed, but through Christ we walk with God and is a reason to be both blessed and happy. Transgression in the Hebrew Text relates to the thoughts and intents of the heart that lead away from the instructions of Scripture, yet thankfully Scripture shows us how to journey on a direct path that leads us to His wondrous Word through knowing Jesus Christ as our True Passover.

When we realize our faults have taken us away from God, as the sin nature does “so easily beset us” (Hebrews 12:1), and we then realize that we have an advocate in His Son because “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7), and we come back to God in prayer to receive our cleansing and forgiveness, God is always willing, ready, and able to forgive.

I John 1:9:
If we confess our sins, he {God} is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Then the Psalm goes on to say, whose sin is covered. In the Old Testament times sins were only covered, it is like tying a trash bag or putting refuse into an underground septic tank, we know there is something not so pleasant under there, but at least it is out of sight. Thankfully today in grace, God cleanses us from all unrighteousness, leaving the inside washed completely clean rather than simply covering them up. This is because of the blessed work of the Offering of the High Priest, on man’s behalf.

Psalms 32:2:
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile {or deceit}.

David shares in the first two verses that the believers are “blessed.” The LORD considered this important enough to reiterate the truth of our being blessed by Him by repeating it to show we have blessings upon blessings (Ephesians 1:3). The reason that we are so blessed is because the LORD Jehovah sees the Christ in us, and that most important part of us (our hearts and inner consciousness) is not deceitful before the LORD where we are totally sinless and pure and guileless. So when and where we may experience condemnation because of our sins, it is pretty much a waste of our time and energy because what Jehovahimputes to us is forgiveness and cleansing rather than iniquity.

In our spirit (our inner heart), the LORD sees no guile because within we have the Bright and Morning Star; this is what He really sees as we are the children of light ― His light. Having no guile means that the LORD sees absolutely no deceit, but only His children with Christ within, for we may always stand before Him, and confess, thus being forgiven, cleansed, and knowing that He has not imputed (or held) our shortcomings against us (Psalms 32:1–2 are also recorded in the first church Epistle, Romans 4:7–8). For Christ the Prophet of all prophecy “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Jesus is not going to be crucified again – for you, he is not going to die again – for you, and he is not going to get up again – for you, once was enough to last an eternity – for you – for your justification!

Psalms 32:3:
When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

Silence represents our not asking for forgiveness in prayer from our God (I wrote a study once titled, “Ask: and it shall be given,” and as I like to say, “Ask, and it shall be forgiven!”). Sometimes we may feel so awful about our past sins that we become too fearful to even consider daring to ask for God’s forgiveness, and this is something David had experienced in his life.

Consequently, when we forget our Captain of Salvation, then we do not ask God for forgiveness, and we may feel as though we are standing all alone, when all along our heavenly Father wants us to accept our forgiveness and walk again with Him. We can because the Captain of our salvation gave his all in all in order that we may come to God at any time to accept our forgiveness and begin enjoying life with both our Savior and our heavenly Father. Life on the other side of forgiveness is quite wonderful, it beats the hell out of condemnation, so please come on over and join the sanctified at the sweet spot of life. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

Romans 8:34:
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Bones in Psalms 32:3 represents the inner structure of man’s physical life, and yet feeling so very old and bending under the pressures of life. David’s meaning here is that when we try and hold ourselves up on our own merits without God being a vibrant part of our life’s foundation, then we forfeit God’s blessed privilege of spiritually holding us up through the power of our Wonderful Secret. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10). This is God’s desire ― to hold men and women up with His loving strength.

The roaring also in Psalms 32:3 represents man’s inner unfeigned sorrow or groaning by his own self-pity, the inner result when he does not allow himself to ask God for forgiveness or help, when all along God’s poised will and desire is to do so (when we ask), and Jesus, our Redeemer, gave his life and now he intercedes, clearing the path to Him so that we could go to God unfettered in our minds.

Psalms 32:4:
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

I have heard this verse explained as one who is living under the thumb of God, as one who is receiving His rebuking correction; however, this is simply an untrue statement in relationship to the Creator of Heaven and Earth. Trust me; if God was that kind of God with unimaginable threatening power at His disposal and His hand of vengeance was upon us, then mankind would have ended with the fall from grace on Paradise back in the time of Genesis.

God would have never given man the hope of a Deliverer, and the Deliverer would never have given his life, except for one thing, God has loved mankind, including you (Ephesians 1:4), even before Adam and Eve were formed, made, and created.

Christ certainly loved enough to die in that horrible torturous way for you and me. Then, why in the world would some unduly high-pitched, shrieking voices jump out from behind teaching pulpits crying out, “God could squash you at His whimsical leisure and pleasure as you live a lowly and meager existence under His terrible hand?” Oh, come on now, that is just plain wrong, for God loves you as is heard within the gentleness of our Still Small Voice! He has graven (tattooed) you upon the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16), and when He opens up His arms and hands, it is you He sees in His loving arms and written on His palms. It is you He loves, come what may, it is you He is committed to, and continually overjoyed with (Psalms 73:22–25)!

Thus David realized that, “Though he {a righteous man or woman} fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand” (Psalm 37:24).

Psalms 80:17:
Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

Here is the biblical interpretation of for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. Whenever we carry our own burdens around without releasing them to our God in prayer, then we may feel heavy (spiritually), and weak in our personal faith. We may experience feelings similar to the statue of Atlas who is portrayed carrying the weight of the world upon his shoulders, or David the King who cared and watched over the Nation of Israel, or the Apostle Paul who cared for the entire First Century church of God (II Corinthians 11:28). Jesus Christ, the King’s Son and Eternal Answer bore the sins of the whole world and lifted you and me up to our heavenly Father and He can release one and all from the burdens of the sin nature while revealing to us our new divine nature in Christ (II Peter 1:2–8).

Oftentimes the burden of carrying our sins around is something believers experience and what John calls “an unction from the Holy One” (I John 2:20) when God is working overtime to inspire us to come back to Him (and why?), so we may enjoy His fellowship and our Spiritual Revival. This is the true meaning of day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, for today in grace we deserve our Heavenly Pardon. God is beseeching us to come back in order that we may enjoy our Good Day in fellowship with Him. “Even there {at any place} shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me {so I will not fall}” (Psalms 139:10).

My moisture is turned into the drought of summer is referring to a spiritual drought and is the absence of the spiritual refreshing that can come to us only when we accept God’s healing will of forgiveness. It is man himself who singularly grapples within his mind to rise up to believing in his worthiness given to him in Christ. These are some of the emotions David went through hundreds of years ago and are most common to men and women of today. It is man alone who oscillates in and out of fellowship with his God. It is Christ our Arbitrator who catapults men and women up to receiving God’s refreshing, and it is Christ who has lead the way for man to receive the graces of God. The expression Selah essentially means to pause and calmly think about what was just written (and then rethink it through again and again, or, in other words ― meditate on God’s Word, grace, and love)!

In this Psalm, David finally realized he was not acknowledging God in his life and thus he was lacking the refreshing that came by having fellowship with God once again, and so he then continues:

Psalms 32:5–6:
-5: I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid {from God}. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD {Unto who? Unto the LORD, rather than to any man}; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. {Not just the sin committed, but the iniquity in the thought process and actions that caused the sin in the first place, this also God will totally forgive and cleanse.} Selah. {So please ― Pause: and calmly think on what we just read ― that God forgives us completely, even from the conception of a sin (James 1:15) to one’s commitment to follow through with it all the way to its ultimate completion and degradation ― Wow, that is magnified grace given to you and I in spades!}
-6: For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

The word shall represents that we may, whenever we desire, reach all the way up to our God’s ears in prayer. Believers may come to experience their forgiveness, acknowledging that God does cleanse us of our sins. Take God’s Word for your forgiveness; whenever you do ― you have literally believed God in all His beckoning of you to accept His forgiveness!

The word godly means to have and enjoy a true and vital relationship with God, which is necessary to enjoying freedom in Christ. Believers, you and I, are the godly, and when praying we have an uninterrupted connection with God (spiritual-optics), which are never disconnected at God’s end, and His communication lines are free and always in good working order.

When is a time that God may be found? This is a very good question, and the answer is straightforward ― it is always a good time to come to God in prayer; there is never a bad time for we always have our Song in the Night and this awards rest and peace to our souls.

Psalms 69:13:
But as for me {David}, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

Hebrews 4:16:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

II Corinthians 6:2:
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Even when we are feeling down or if we feel that we are no darn good and are living in self-condemnation and sin (even then ― even now), God encourages us as His children to go to Him without hesitation or fear.

Our loving, heavenly Father will always embrace us in His love. “If God be for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)? God is always on our side (and no one is bigger than God is), and Christ gave himself so we could be on God’s side, for we are eternally on the winning team. It is God in Christ cheering us on to the finishing line, where and when true perfection will be awarded (I Corinthians 15:51–58), wherein we will receive, “The prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

Surely in the floods of great waters they {the spiritual storms of this life} shall not come nigh unto him, because God watches over us. He is indeed our “refuge from the storm” (Isaiah 25:4), delivering ever brighter tomorrows, “in whom {in God} we trust that he will yet deliver us” (II Corinthians 1:10). Amazing, God is saying in II Corinthians 1:10 that He is going to deliver us from things in the future that have yet to happen, oh what a God we have to learn of and enjoy!

Through all of God’s healing Word, He directs our spiritual steps to safer and higher ground on our Path of Righteousness. His Word encourages us to build our spiritual lives on the rock, Christ Jesus (I Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20). The spiritual winds may “beat” from one direction and “blow” from even another direction, but we shall not be blown away, as promised us by Jesus himself (Matthew 7:24–25). As we learn to build our spiritual lives upon the rock, indeed, stormy rains (negatives) may fall down, floods (of unbelief) may come up, and the winds (of doubt) may bellow across the bows (boughs) of our hopes and dreams in an attempt to stimulate fear. Yet God has already guaranteed to us that He will hold us up and continue to keep us afloat, as we continue looking to Him and His healing Word through our wonderful Savior who is the anchor of our souls (Hebrews 6:19).

God is our hiding place, because in (fellowship with) God there is refuge, there is sanctuary, and there is peace of mind. “HE that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalms 91:1). It is our God Who preserves us from impending trouble; it is our heavenly Father Who watches over our lives and assures us of victory in Christ who reveals the Wholeness of Man, and it is our God Who enables us to pass through all the storms of life.

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance can be experienced in contrast to feeling as though we are drying up from the inside out without spiritual edification, nourishment, and inspiration. And instead of being flooded with negatives from every direction, God encompasses, encircles, and covers us, giving to our souls spiritual songs of His deliverance. This is when our souls sing for joy, and because of our deliverance, we can be overflowing with rejoicing, for from the depths of our inner souls we can become ever more thankful for our complete standing as God’s redeemed children.

Today, as we rejoice in our calling from God, we may spiritually and experientially realize our unique place with God being spiritually seated at His very own right hand in and with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:5–7). Recall how much love the Father has for us, “that we should be called the sons {and daughters} of God” (I John 3:1).

In Psalm 32, David begins by expressing how blessed we are when we receive forgiveness, and then he goes on to show what happens when we do not ask for forgiveness as he did for a time. Finally, David got to the place in his life that he realized that all he had to do was acknowledge the error of his ways. It was then that David came to grasp that his God totally forgave him. “David said unto Nathan {the Prophet}, I have sinned against the LORD {this is David, he was not confessing his sins to Nathan, but admitting that he sinned when he was confronted by the Prophet}. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin” (II Samuel 12:13). What could be more comforting to a sinner than to hear that God has already put away his or her sin?

Psalms 51:1–3:
-1: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. {This asked David of God in regard to what David had done to Uriah the Hittite and Bathsheba his wife; you can read the story from II Samuel chapter 11:1–24 on how David got Uriah killed so that he could get Bathsheba to be his wife.}
-2: Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin {David asks God}.
-3: For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

Well, once the thing is done then it is done and one could live in condemnation a lifetime or admit to God that a sin has occurred and accept His forgiveness and get back into fellowship with God. The thing that helped David was his humbleness in accepting that “The LORD also hath put away thy sin” and then he wrote “my sin is ever before me.”

I wanted to discuss a little about the Old Testament and the New in the light of understanding what we talked about in the first verse on this Psalm in which we saw that God forgave by covering or putting away sins in the times of the old covenant, while in grace all our sins are washed away completely. David’s sins and transgressions were, as written, put away, and even though his sins were put away they were still within David’s mind as he wrote my sinisever before me. Have you ever heard it said that people can forgive but they cannot always forget? The same was true for David; he could accept his forgiveness but it was a lot harder for him to forget which only made him a better person, afterwards.

Following is a spiritual assessment of King David, he “did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he {the LORD} commanded him all the days of his life, save only {except only} in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (I Kings 15:5). Note in this verse that something was remembered, a thousand things were good for David and still something remained ― a sin in his mind. Although forgiven by God, it was not washed away or blotted out. However, today in grace all of our sins are cleansed and we have this wonderful verse of understanding, “For I {your God} will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). You see, in the Old Testament the repentant sinner could not forget his or her sin and because of that his or her God could not forget them either because the Redeemer of sin had yet to come and die for the sin of the world. However, because of the complete redeeming work of Jesus Christ who became sin ― for us, we find, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21).

Today our sins are completely washed away and we are now as righteous as God is, and not only can we know that our sins are forgiven, but it is also possible to forget them altogether along with God Who already has ― I remember no more! Paul taught “this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14). I Corinthians 1:30 reveals that “of him {of God} are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30), and if or when we can think on such things as wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption rather than on our already forgiven sins, then God can go to work helping us beyond the past as we are pointed to Christ and our eternity.

Philippians 4:6–9 (The Amplified Bible):**
-6: Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
-7: And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
-8: For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].
-9: Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.

David’s sin is written in Holy Writ, right there in I Kings 15:5 (and in other Scriptures), which means that the verse will abide as an integral part of the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever (John 1:1, I Peter 1:23). However, our sins are gone forever, washed completely away and therefore they cannot live and abide forever but are eternally gone ― from us! This is part of the “mystery of godliness” (I Timothy 3:16), afforded to us through Christ’s perfecting work for us (Colossians 1:28), and his cleansing work in us (I John 1:7).

Do yourself a favor, try and read all about your sins in the New Testament (as we were able to read David’s in the Old Testament) and you will find that you as a sinner are completely absent, dead to sin (a few examples: Romans 6:11, I Corinthians 15:3, and II Corinthians 5:14–15), but as a redeemed saint and child of Godyou will find yourself on every page alive in Christ (a few examples: Romans 6:11–14, and Colossians 3:3–4). You will discover this especially when you read along in and with Christ who is your guide and Golden Thread who leads you to absolute enlightenment, “For now we live {enjoy the more abundant life}, if {since} ye stand fast in the Lord” (I Thessalonians 3:11). As David was able to receive forgiveness and did amazing exploits for God, we are also even more enabled (Philippians 4:13)! Our sins are completely cleansed and will never be remembered or read about and thankfully only the good that we do by believing the Word will be known to us along with every being in heaven as our believing shall provide our heavenly rewards!

Psalms 32 now continues on with God’s response to David’s on account of his opening up his heart to Him:

Psalms 32:8:
I {God} will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye.

Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” to the Father (John 14:6); it is only through finding the Son of God, our Beloved, that one truly receives the instructions and teachings and guidance from God’s heart. Guide thee with mine eye is something that a servant in the biblelands would completely understand, because when their master would perhaps raise one eyebrow in a certain way or move his hand with a subtle gesture, the master would be directing his servant to do something for him, perhaps bring a cup of water or bring him a pillow. The meaning here is that God can direct us with inspirations that are not forceful but much rather are very gently given to us through the loving motions of inspired thoughts of comfort from Him in Love.

Psalms 32:9:
Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding {who are stubborn}: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they {otherwise, they will not} come near unto thee {to receive their instructions and guidance}.

God’s lesson here is that we may walk with His guidance and allow Him to inspire our life’s path through the inspiration of our Savior who gave his all in all so that we could receive all of God’s abundance.

Psalms 32:10:
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.

The wicked do experience many sorrows because they reap the wickedness that they sow. Nevertheless, we who trust the LORD can be delivered from all of our sorrows and be continuously encompassed in God’s loving mercy. Mercy biblically means that God withholds judgment and punishment that perhaps are rightfully due, yet because of God’s divine grace upon our lives, judgments are repelled away.

Often, when we blow it and sin (for no man is perfect), we may be justly deserving of condemnation, judgment, and punishment; however, God’s mercy holds these off, keeping us in a life with Him that is full of mercy from every direction and dimension.

Psalms 32:11:
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

When we are glad in the LORD for His mercy upon our lives, then genuine rejoicing in the LORD will manifest itself, whelping up into thankfulness that we know God. Even David lived his life as one forgiven and who was enabled to shout of joy. We may rejoice because God has made us righteous, as completely righteous as God is (II Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:9), because of His Son, Jesus Christ. So shout for joy!

We who continue to come to our God in prayer with thankfulness and with believing that He does indeed answers us, will (without a doubt) also absolutely recognize that God sees us as His upright in heart. The life that Christians can enjoy in knowing God’s healing will reveals to us life more abundantly. God sees you in Christ, as His upright in heart who has received His spiritual refreshing.

Psalms 149:5:
Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Oh, what a marvelous song we have!

Acts 20:32:
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

*Scripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE.
The Amplified New Testament copyright (c) 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by permission.